Taxi Driver, if you weren't aware, follows a New York City taxi driver called Travis Bickle as he descends into a state of masculine madness. Along the way he courts Betsy, a member of a local campaign for a presidential candidate, continuously runs into Iris, an underage prostitute, sits on the outside of his cab-driving colleagues, and has his worldview shaped by the men and women he ferries all over the city. Spoilers; it's not a very healthy worldview at all. Taking on the night shift leaves him with a darkened view of a world run by pimps, junkies, thieves, and murderers. He suffers crippling insomnia which leaves him either alone in his apartment fantasising about the man he wants to be, or huddled in a porno theatre, the irony completely lost on him.
Taxi Driver is, at its core, a character study of a lonely and unstable young man. Coupled with its 70s style of filmmaking, this results in it being a super slow movie, far slower than I anticipated. In truth, this is a big reason why it was so hard for me to really get into. Half the movie is spent watching the debacle between Travis and Betsy play out, as he stalks her, awkwardly asks her out, promptly loses her after taking her to watch a porno on their first date (an act so seeped in Travis' own disillusion that it's painful to watch), and desperately trying to contact her to get a second chance. The function of all of this is essential, painting up not only how socially awkward and disconnected Travis is, but also really hammering in his loneliness, as the final straw that causes him to snap. Problem is, as I mentioned, this takes up half the movie. It's a catalyst to his descent into madness and the crippling loneliness he endures, but it doesn't portray either of things directly. If he had just taken her to a normal movie theatre or for an innocent dinner, he probably would've won her heart and enjoyed a fruitful relationship that helped him turn his life around. But this movie isn't so much about what could've been, and for the catalyst to take up so much screentime just slows the pacing of the movie right down. It also takes remarkably too long for Iris to even be introduced, and once she is she disappears again for large portions of the movie (likewise, Betsy is almost completely absent after the breakup). I can certainly get behind Travis becoming obsessed with someone he sees in quick, short bursts, but when he only shows that obsession when she's physically there before him, it results in her presence being almost entirely diminished in between.
Of course I fully recognise that both those points are about characters that this movie strictly isn't about. Betsy and Iris are ultimately just plot devices put in there to drive Travis' character and giving him the motivation to do whatever he chooses to do as the movie goes along. His anger eventually reaches a boiling point, and his first target is Senator Palantine, the presidential candidate Betsy works for, if for no other reason than getting back at Betsy. However he's discouraged at the last minute and instead points his anger as the trio of pimps Iris works for. One thing I did really like about this movie was the juxtaposition between those two choices. Travis needs to take his anger out on someone, and he's sick of the "filth" he sees lining the streets every night, and takes it upon himself to clean it up. If he had assassinated Palantine as he originally intended, he'd have been prosecuted as a villain with a political agenda, despite being horrifically naïve of the politics around him. Instead he's hailed as a hero for taking out delinquents and criminals. And this is where the film's biggest commentary on society as a whole comes in. To him, both Palantine and the criminals represent the same issues, but because he took out his anger on the undesirables of the city, he ends up celebrated. The local newspapers have no problems in branding this unstable, unhinged vigilante as a hero.
The film becomes a direct mockery of the hero complex. Violent, angry men are praised for cleaning up the world and saving the damsel because what they do is ultimately seen as good, when really they're just deranged sociopaths who are unable to express themselves any other way. This is all fantastic, but this late in my life it's nothing new. I guarantee I'd have felt differently back in 1976, and no doubt that's why it's earned as much acclaim as it has. But now, today, I've seen this story a hundred times. I've seen this examination of the hero complex a hundred times. I've seen the anti-hero myth torn apart and put back together so many times I don't even know what's being clever or just riffing off other stories any more. While watching Taxi Driver, I instantly saw all manner of other characters in Travis Bickle, from Batman or Joker, to Punisher or Rorschach, from American Psycho to Nightcrawler or You Were Never Really Here. So ultimately the question boils down to which ones did it better? And honestly Taxi Driver doesn't feature all that high up for me. Just because it was the first doesn't mean it's the best.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Taxi Driver doesn't deserve the acclaim it continues to receive. I didn't like how slow and somewhat badly paced it was, nor did I like Bernard Herrman's score which feels misplaced and repetitive, but it's not a bad movie by any means. The dialogue is real and relatable, De Niro' performance is next level stuff, the camera work is often creative and interesting, creating imagery that'll stick with you forever, and no matter how many times the general story of a lonely, angry, unstable individual going on violent killing sprees and carefully toeing the line between hero and villain has been told, it'll never be one to ignore. I give Taxi Driver a decent 7/10. Go ahead and tell me why I'm wrong, or what I've clearly missed, because I'm nearly tearing my hair out trying to figure out why this movie is quite as highly regarded as it is.
Taxi Driver is, at its core, a character study of a lonely and unstable young man. Coupled with its 70s style of filmmaking, this results in it being a super slow movie, far slower than I anticipated. In truth, this is a big reason why it was so hard for me to really get into. Half the movie is spent watching the debacle between Travis and Betsy play out, as he stalks her, awkwardly asks her out, promptly loses her after taking her to watch a porno on their first date (an act so seeped in Travis' own disillusion that it's painful to watch), and desperately trying to contact her to get a second chance. The function of all of this is essential, painting up not only how socially awkward and disconnected Travis is, but also really hammering in his loneliness, as the final straw that causes him to snap. Problem is, as I mentioned, this takes up half the movie. It's a catalyst to his descent into madness and the crippling loneliness he endures, but it doesn't portray either of things directly. If he had just taken her to a normal movie theatre or for an innocent dinner, he probably would've won her heart and enjoyed a fruitful relationship that helped him turn his life around. But this movie isn't so much about what could've been, and for the catalyst to take up so much screentime just slows the pacing of the movie right down. It also takes remarkably too long for Iris to even be introduced, and once she is she disappears again for large portions of the movie (likewise, Betsy is almost completely absent after the breakup). I can certainly get behind Travis becoming obsessed with someone he sees in quick, short bursts, but when he only shows that obsession when she's physically there before him, it results in her presence being almost entirely diminished in between.
Of course I fully recognise that both those points are about characters that this movie strictly isn't about. Betsy and Iris are ultimately just plot devices put in there to drive Travis' character and giving him the motivation to do whatever he chooses to do as the movie goes along. His anger eventually reaches a boiling point, and his first target is Senator Palantine, the presidential candidate Betsy works for, if for no other reason than getting back at Betsy. However he's discouraged at the last minute and instead points his anger as the trio of pimps Iris works for. One thing I did really like about this movie was the juxtaposition between those two choices. Travis needs to take his anger out on someone, and he's sick of the "filth" he sees lining the streets every night, and takes it upon himself to clean it up. If he had assassinated Palantine as he originally intended, he'd have been prosecuted as a villain with a political agenda, despite being horrifically naïve of the politics around him. Instead he's hailed as a hero for taking out delinquents and criminals. And this is where the film's biggest commentary on society as a whole comes in. To him, both Palantine and the criminals represent the same issues, but because he took out his anger on the undesirables of the city, he ends up celebrated. The local newspapers have no problems in branding this unstable, unhinged vigilante as a hero.
The film becomes a direct mockery of the hero complex. Violent, angry men are praised for cleaning up the world and saving the damsel because what they do is ultimately seen as good, when really they're just deranged sociopaths who are unable to express themselves any other way. This is all fantastic, but this late in my life it's nothing new. I guarantee I'd have felt differently back in 1976, and no doubt that's why it's earned as much acclaim as it has. But now, today, I've seen this story a hundred times. I've seen this examination of the hero complex a hundred times. I've seen the anti-hero myth torn apart and put back together so many times I don't even know what's being clever or just riffing off other stories any more. While watching Taxi Driver, I instantly saw all manner of other characters in Travis Bickle, from Batman or Joker, to Punisher or Rorschach, from American Psycho to Nightcrawler or You Were Never Really Here. So ultimately the question boils down to which ones did it better? And honestly Taxi Driver doesn't feature all that high up for me. Just because it was the first doesn't mean it's the best.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Taxi Driver doesn't deserve the acclaim it continues to receive. I didn't like how slow and somewhat badly paced it was, nor did I like Bernard Herrman's score which feels misplaced and repetitive, but it's not a bad movie by any means. The dialogue is real and relatable, De Niro' performance is next level stuff, the camera work is often creative and interesting, creating imagery that'll stick with you forever, and no matter how many times the general story of a lonely, angry, unstable individual going on violent killing sprees and carefully toeing the line between hero and villain has been told, it'll never be one to ignore. I give Taxi Driver a decent 7/10. Go ahead and tell me why I'm wrong, or what I've clearly missed, because I'm nearly tearing my hair out trying to figure out why this movie is quite as highly regarded as it is.